


The Texas Redesign

by Opy3332



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post North Pole, Romance, Season/Series 03, Texas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:25:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4097440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opy3332/pseuds/Opy3332
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Penny had gone with the guys to Texas to fetch Sheldon in S3:E1? What if Sheldon hadn’t been so easy to convince?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 

Penny had never been to Texas. For some reason, that is the first thing she thinks of as the plane lands. The boys have been quiet most of the flight, partly due to the numerous death glares she’s sent their way since this began, but she is sure it is sprinkled with a healthy dose of reluctance to actually be here, and so she just stares out the window in silence. They’ve flown into Houston, because it’s cheaper (Leonard’s already lending her money for the flight, Penny can’t help remembering), and now have an hour or so drive to Galveston.

They’ve all packed light, expecting (hoping) a quick act of convincing Sheldon, and hop into a small rental car quickly.  She refuses to sit in the back with either Howard or Raj, and Leonard insists on driving, so she is curled up in the passenger seat, thoughts plaguing her. The landscape is different than both California and Nebraska. She almost finds it humorous that they drive by a city named Pasadena, but the amount of crap that she’s put up within the last few days won’t quite allow it. In reality, she’s concentrated on all the possible outcomes of this adventure and hoping it doesn’t end up with her fired and heading back to Omaha, tail between her legs. That it all better end with them lugging a crazy whack-a-doodle Dr. Cooper back with them is non-negotiable in her mind. She hadn’t been able to stand the sight of Sheldon, curled up on his bed, heartbroken over yet another science thing she didn’t understand—and this ending is much worse.

 

Two days after her initial attempt to comfort him, when she found out he’d left, her shock was real. And her anger at the other three even more so. Obviously this all was an even bigger issue than Penny had realized. She’d tried to wrap her head around, even as Leonard was trying to lean in and kiss her. The chastisement she sends his way doesn’t seem to deter him very much.

One of these times, Sheldon wasn’t going to be able to get his job back, she only hoped that it wasn’t this time. When her handful of texts to him go unanswered she grows even more concerned. He’s never ignored her baiting before. She’d interrupted Battlestar Galactica to stare at the boys until she convinced them they needed to talk to him.

“He isn’t answering my messages. I think you guys need to go down there and talk to him, apologize.” She’d yelled at them.

Howard was mumbling under his breath to Raj. “But what if we aren’t sorry?”

Penny had stepped up, directly in front of him. “Junior Rodeo,” she spit out between clenched teeth. Raj had squeaked and covered his crotch with his hands.

“Penny,” Leonard began, “maybe a little time in Texas will be good for Sheldon…” he trailed off when she pinned her stare on him.

Threatening them was clearly not working quite as she’d intended, and she somehow found herself enticing them with her presence. Leonard had been quick to agree at that point, and, as usual, Howard and Raj followed suit. Leonard had booked them on the next available flight out and now the four of them are on a back road in Texas.

 

Well over an hour later, damn Leonard’s driving mixed with Houston Saturday early evening traffic, they reach the address Mary had given her over the phone. The home they pull up in front of is cute and proper, despite being slightly modest—not quite what she was expecting after some of the stories Sheldon’s had to share of his childhood. They all stare for a moment. She is the first one to move, somewhat reluctantly still, after Leonard shuts off the engine. The guys trudge along behind her in a line, practically dragging their feet. She pauses in front of the door, readying herself and letting the boys collect themselves.

There is a small pause, a minute shift in the universe, and then she rings the doorbell.

 

***

 

He hasn’t left his room outside of trips to the bathroom since he arrived. He’d given his mother the bare bones of the betrayal, a few terse and polysyllabic words that had done their part to confuse her and get her off his back long enough for him to bypass her and seclude himself in his childhood room. She’d tried to talk to him at first, but has resorted to just bringing him meals, fried chicken and mashed potatoes, homemade macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, chicken fried steak, directly to his room—attempts at comfort and fattening him up; but all laced with probing questions and pointed statements.

His entire life there’d been nothing but science. Misunderstood and ridiculed since the beginning, he’d lost himself early on in the books and words, the theories and facts that surrounded him. They’d been a constant when nothing else had—family, location, language, friends. Heading off at 11, distancing himself from the plebeians at his school, he’d had such hope. Behind every turn though, he’s simply found the same situation, just with different faces and accents.

Part of him, most of him, can’t help but think it was all a ridiculous fantasy: breaking out into the world, taking the physics community by storm, winning a Nobel Prize for it. He’d already had to practically beg for his job back once, not even at the top university, and now his work and reputation lay in tatters. But, part of him still wants to prove it—prove the science, prove himself. He isn’t sure how to recover from this one though, and, perhaps here, no more pain will come from it. He can spend his days teaching evolution to handfuls of creationists who don’t care about anything outside of football. It’s depressing in its enormity.

Raj, Raj was explainable. He was a follower by nature, he’s sure as soon as Wolowitz was on board he was as well. And, he had cut him out when making room for Kripke, even if it was only for a few minutes. Wolowitz, too, was explainable. No PhD there and the most outspoken against him. It is Leonard ultimately that confuses him. Sheldon isn’t sure he’d stick his neck out for Leonard, they’re friends but Sheldon sill doesn’t quite get it, but he would certainly never tarnish Science, even in a moment of pure aggravation. That is the biggest betrayal of all.

For a moment he stops to consider Heidelberg, wonders if it isn’t an opportunity, a place, to which he could return.  Back when he was a child prodigy he’d been respected there, held in awe. Maybe there’d be a quiet corner for him abroad, where perhaps news mightn’t have traveled so quickly. He has his laptop, didn’t stop to grab much else, but he’s been reviewing his work, figuring out what he can salvage and which items are worth future time and which aren’t. The lists are more disparate than he’d prefer.

Leaning his head back onto his Star Wars pillowcase—his room, nearly untouched—brings back a flood of memories; hiding from his father, his mother, his sister, his brother, the neighbor kids. The shelves are lined with Legos, books, comics, and games that he’d used to escape the world and the trophies and awards he’d earned to prove that. They’re dusty now. If he believed in such hokum as symbology and poetry, he guesses they’d have something to relate on the matter.

His REM is disjointed now after almost four days with little change in pattern. He wants to fall asleep, despite it not being his usual bedtime. The Age of Conan icon catches his eye on his laptop, but he can’t bring himself to play it. Memories of Penny are wrapped up in that now, and it reminds him of everything he’s left behind back in Pasadena. He reclines back and, just as his eyes begin to blink heavily, the sound of the doorbell chimes softly.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a hard time writing Mary Cooper without coming across too judgmental/rude. Hope it turned out okay.

Chapter 2

 

Mary is all smiles when she opens the door for them, ushering them into the small but clean living room filled with knick-knacks and bright colors. She reaches out to hug Penny before nodding at the others in greeting.

“I’m so glad y’all came. He’s still just shut up in his room, can’t convince him otherwise. Four days of room service, it’s almost as if his daddy were alive again.”

The guys just nod their heads while Penny leans in towards Mary. “Tell me, is he okay?”

Mary’s eyes shift towards the others. “Drinks boys? How about you sit down on the sofa and I bring you all a nice cold cola?” They shuffle, as if they’re one coordinated unit, and sit down, eyes wide and wandering.

Penny gets drug into the kitchen by Mary, and she starts in just as soon as she’s through the door, voice hushed but acerbic. “Now I know Shelly hasn’t got the sense God gave a dog, but whatever those so-called friends of his did, it was the final nail.”

“Did he tell you anything? He hasn’t responded to any of my messages since he left.”

“Oh, he threw a bunch of mumbo-jumbo at me, meant to confuse and distract. I didn’t buy it for a moment. He’s got his daddy’s temper, nothing worse than when they’re quiet-mad. It’s the neighbor kids all over again,” she adds with a sigh.

“Direct approach?” Penny asks thoughtfully.

“Now, we don’t want to spook him,” Mary reminds her gently, leading her over to the counter and opening the oven. “Good thing I’ve got the secret weapon,” she adds on with a smile, pulling a large dish out and placing it on the cooling rack.

 

***

 

The doorbell isn’t so much a surprise as the sound of voices following it. Visitors, not just someone door-to-door. It’s a soft cacophony, he can’t make out any of the words. Probably church friends of his mothers, and he’s so tired of hiding his words, his work, he doesn’t want to do that anymore, so he stays put. Formulas dance in his head in lulling waves and he is almost asleep when a small knock stirs him. He smells the cobbler before the door opens and sits up excitedly.

He sees his mother first, cobbler held out in front of her. His smile, which pops in small but real when he sees her, disappears almost instantly as he sees Leonard’s face peek in behind her, followed closely by Raj and then Howard.  Immediately, he turns on his side, back towards the four of them.

“Hey, buddy,” Leonard says softly, still hovering by the door.

“Now, Shelly, I brought you up your favorite dessert,” his mother’s attempt to placate him. She was going to ruin cobbler for him at this rate. “And your friends here want to talk to say something to you.”

Sheldon isn’t facing them, but he can practically see the nudge his mother gives Leonard at this point; knows, somehow, that he isn’t fully here of his own volition. But he can’t imagine what would have convinced him, let alone Raj and Howard, to come. Certainly not their friendship, not at this point, not after everything.

“Listen,” Leonard says before coughing slightly and shuffling his feet, moving closer to the bed. There’s a muffled sound of elbows nudging each other and bodies in close proximity. “We’re sorry. We’ve come to apologize, and bring you back home.” The sound of vigorous nodding accompanies his statement. Imbeciles, knowing he can’t see them.

He grabs his pillow and stuffs it over his head, placing his hand on top of it in obvious coverage of his ears. It takes a few more minutes, two more attempts at ‘sorry’ and a round of sighs, but they all eventually leave him in peace. His muscles relax slightly until he realizes his mother has taken the cobbler with her.

 

***

 

Penny is drumming her fingers on the table when the four of them return back down the stairs, heads hanging in obvious defeat.

“Well?” She asks.

“Crazy pants ignored us completely,” Howard pipes up from the back.

Mary sets the plate of cobbler down on the counter. “Let’s try giving him just a bit of space, must have been a shock seeing you all walk into his room.”

“It’s getting late,” Leonard says slowly, eyes on his watch. “I’d been hoping we’d be able to catch the redeye back tonight.”

“I’m sure we can find a nice hotel nearby, right, Mary?” Penny asks in a tone that brokers no arguments, her Junior Rodeo tone. They’ve flown all the way down here, she’s missing at least two shifts already, they aren’t leaving without Sheldon.

“Nonsense. Friends don’t stay at hotels. I’ve got Missy’s old room, George’s old room, a couch, and a whole closet full of sleeping bags. Penny, there’s a single bed in Missy’s old room you can have. Raj, I think you best be having George’s. Howard and Leonard, the couches out here should be perfect for your heights, I’ll grab some blankets.”

 

Penny can’t help the smirk as she readies herself for bed. Leonard had tried to follow her up here, only to be met with the wrath of Mary Cooper. She’d sent him packing back downstairs, and Penny can’t help it, but she didn’t want to argue it. Leonard’s been more focused on her than Sheldon and it was embarrassing to realize that in front of Sheldon’s mother.

Missy’s old room is just across the hall from Sheldon’s, which makes sense she decides. After she brushes her teeth and is turning down the covers, she hears a slight noise from across the hall, nothing loud, just the shuffling of feet really. Sheldon’s REM must be really jacked up if he’s wandering around his room at this hour though she decides. Wonders if he needs ‘Soft Kitty’ sang to him again.

Thinking of Sheldon, she decides that the boys had made their attempt, but maybe she should make her own. The idea makes her smile. She creeps down the stairs and grabs the piece of cobbler Mary had wrapped up for Sheldon. Quietly grabbing a fork, she tiptoes back up the stairs and heads straight for his door.

She knocks softly, this is Sheldon after all. But she doesn’t wait, doesn’t give him time to deny her entrance or hide. Holding the cobbler in front of her, she pushes the door open and heads in.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

“Penny?” Sheldon asks as Penny walks through his bedroom door. He’s confused; this was not something he foresaw.

“Hi MoonPie.” She says, and her grin is cheeky, playful. He stares at her a moment more. She’s up to something, she must be. There is cobbler in her hand though, so he decides it is worth the risk.

“People aren’t supposed to be in my room,” he says, tone flat, even as he is turning in her direction, the direction of the plate. His words are a rote response, last ditch effort at protecting himself. Penny has rarely listened though, something which both infuriates and intrigues him.

“I bet you want your cobbler though,” she says with a laugh as she sits down on his bed. On his bed. A small yelp escapes him.

“Penny! You can’t be on my bed!”

Her voice is practically a bark. “Sheldon! Sit down and eat your cobbler.”

He sits down, automatic reaction. The plate is grabbed quickly, pulling it towards himself in one smooth motion. Two bites in, he can no longer contain his curiosity.  “Why are you here, Penny?”

Every so often her awareness mystifies him, surprises him. He supposes it is her social intelligence, EQ as some call it. Now is one such moment.

“Here in your room or here in Texas?” She asks around her own forkful of cobbler. His eyes follow it for just a second.

“The latter.”

“You were here; you shouldn’t be. I like to think we’re friends.”

“And?” He presses.

“And…and what?” She stutters slightly. He raises his eyebrow, attempts to be intimidating. It’s something he’s rarely succeeded at, but it is apparently enough to make Penny stop her demurral.

“Alright; and the others wouldn’t come until I volunteered to come along as well.”

Sheldon can read between her words and can’t help the slight downturn of his shoulders. “You mean Leonard.”

Her nod is small but perceptible.  There is a small shoot of pain, disappointment, through his chest. Part of him is annoyed that Leonard still has the capability to surprise and wound him after this entire ordeal. He glances away, eyes locking on the bookshelf, away from the door, away from Penny.

***

 

Penny watches as he looks away and then stills completely when she nods her head. She wants to reach out and hug him, wants to reassure him, but she knows better.

“Your mom said cobbler was your favorite?” She asks instead. His nod is silent in return and she feels unpredictably lost. Emotions are supposed to be her area between them; she’s supposed to know what to do. But, maybe, since it’s Sheldon whose hurting, that isn’t how it should go.

“Hey. I’ve got my computer along with me. What do you say Sheldor and Queen Penelope level up?”

Sheldon nods and they spend an hour in quiet battle before he yawns and shoos her away so he can reach his maximum REM. She nods, wants to say something else, ask if he is feeling better, if he’s going to come out of his room tomorrow. But he’s getting twitchy and she’s afraid to push her luck. In the end she gives him one last look, trying to convey something that she isn’t even quite sure of, before she walks out with her laptop and two empty plates.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates tonight! :) Chapter 3 was short so wanted to get this one out as well.

Chapter 4

 

Sheldon doesn’t come out of his room still in the morning. Mary sighs and takes a tray up to him for breakfast. Mid-morning Leonard tries knocking again. He gets five minutes of silence before a terse “Go away!” is finally yelled through the door. He calls it a defeat, slinking back down the stairs.

By lunchtime everyone is getting restless. Howard and Raj are whispering about flights and Leonard is progressively whiney. Penny, exasperated with all of them, even Mary at this point, stomps into the kitchen and grabs two of the sandwiches lined up on the counter. Marching up the stairs she ignores the stares of the others as she plows ahead, eyes on the endgame with no plan. It is her standard.

She triple knocks, an attempt at familiarizing the playing field. There isn’t a response but Penny takes that as good enough and turns the knob. She doesn’t say anything as she sets the sandwiches down on his desk, hovers for a moment before she plops herself down on his bed.

The air is silent, tense between them. They’re never, the two of them, quiet, and it is more awkward than Penny imagined. Yelling, screaming, swearing–those reactions she can deal with. Quiet, robotic reactions she isn’t so sure on. The plates find their way back into her hands and she pushes one at Sheldon while she starts in on hers. Three bites in she can’t take it anymore.

“You can’t honestly plan to spend the rest of your life in this room.” The exclamation pops out of her mouth, not quite a question, but slightly hesitant all the same.

“Well. I’d considered it, but no, it isn’t really a viable option.”

“What are your plans?” She asks, and when he scoffs, she continues on. “Come on, Sheldon, I know you. You’ve thought about it, I know you have.”

“There are plenty of high schools and junior colleges in Texas.”

“Sheldon, you hate teaching.”

“Yes, well I hate being humiliated more.”

She moves closer, settles herself on the bed, close to him but not touching.

“Tell me about it. Please.”

“I…” he begins shakily. “They slandered not only my name, but science as a whole. I don’t know how to reconcile that.”

“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry.” She says, touching his arm lightly, still cautious, even after two years.

“Really, Penny,” he begins in a chiding tone. Knowing the tirade, or at least a fair approximation of it, Penny halts him with a slight squeezing motion on his arm.

“I know I don’t understand it all, you can say all your blond monkey jokes if you want. But what I do know is that betraying someone you call a friend is a big no in my books. Not cool at all.”

“Leonard was my first friend,” Sheldon whispers, like it is a secret. And perhaps it was. Penny isn’t too surprised though really. She and Sheldon have fun, and she calls him a friend, but he’s stressful on a good day, and downright repellant on a bad one. Missy and he were probably never bosom buddies and she knows little of George, Jr. outside of his existence and Mary’s take on his questionable intelligence.

“There are other things besides teaching, aren’t there?” She asks, honestly unsure.

She’s in there for an hour, feels like she made some progress, got him talking a bit, but he doesn’t follow her when she heads back downstairs. It is with a shrug that she greets the others, honestly unsure. She plops herself down on the couch and answers the barrage of questions.

 

 

Penny drives herself into town, unable to handle the tense quietness at the house any longer.  There was ten minutes of questions, ten minutes of complaints from the guys, and then everyone had grown quiet and progressively restless. She pulls into the first bar she sees and parks the rental car. She’s nursing her second beer when she feels someone plop down next to her. It isn’t until the voice asks for an iced tea in a familiar twang that she looks up.

“Sheldon!” She squeaks. “Are you in a bar?”

 

***

 

He’s surprised her, half of his goal with this ridiculous outing. He hadn’t been in this bar in years, not since his dad used to drag him along for bonding time. He’d barely fit on one of their bar stools back at that point. And now he’d snuck out of the house to be here, slipping down the stairs while the television was on in the front room.

“Honestly, Penny, your powers of observation are unrivaled.” He says with a smirk.

“Bazinga?” She asks.

He touches the tip of her nose in affirmation before taking a large sip of his tea.

“No virgin diet Cuba Libre today?” She asks with a tilt of her head towards his glass. She’s attempting small talk, but Sheldon’s eyes suddenly blink rapidly in response. He’d known this was a bad idea, yet he’d done it anyway.

Realizing she is still staring at him, waiting for a reply, he clears his throat.

“Memories. This bar was a favorite of my father’s.”

Her face cringes almost comically and she reaches a hand to his arm. He only tenses a fraction, damn Penny and her continued attempt at exposure.

He shrugs, “Some of my first experiments were here—the bartender used to give me different sized and shaped cups with a different number of ices cubes in them. I’d watch them melt. He’d always gave me an iced tea at some point.”

She smiles, but it is with watery eyes and he can’t figure out if he’s done something wrong or not. He hates it when women cry. Instead, he says what he came here to say.

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” She asks hopeful, eyes turning bright.

He shakes his head. “Tomorrow will decide everything.” He hadn’t intended it to sound ominous, but it comes out that way. Her eyes widen slightly and then he lays down money for both their drinks and walks out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the posting delay; hope you enjoy the chapter.

 

Chapter 5

Penny had stayed at the bar only long enough to finish her own drink, two quick swallows, before climbing back into the rental car and driving back to Mary Cooper’s home. It is almost two miles and she wonders briefly how Sheldon got there. The entire experience leaves her wondering though and that detail slips to the back of her mind amongst the others.

 

She awakes in the morning to the sound of the door closing tightly across the hall. Bolting upright, she scrambles out of bed, almost tripping in her haste to stand. She pulls herself together slightly, running fingers through her hair before she steps out into the hall. Her entrance is timed perfectly with Sheldon emerging from the bathroom. They both stop short and stare at each other.

A second passes before Sheldon opens his mouth. “It’s oatmeal day,” he states before gesturing Penny to lead the way down the stairs.

So they calmly make oatmeal together as if nothing has happened, as if they are still back in 4A and it is a normal morning. Penny isn’t sure what to say, so she simply pulls spoons out of the drawer and lays them out. They’ve just sat down at the table when Mary walks in from one direction and the three guys from the other. All four of them freeze at the tableau they encounter.

 

***

Sheldon is nervous, something he doesn’t like to readily admit, even to himself. But as five pairs of eyes, only one comforting, all stare at him, he can’t seem to beat it down. Oatmeal is a constant though, something that won’t change, won’t betray him, won’t confuse him. So he removes his eyes from those of the others and continues his slow, methodic bites. Penny soon follows suit and the four newcomers have no choice but to make their way to the counter and do the same.

Ten minutes of silence pass as everyone becomes visibly more agitated. Finally, he puts down his spoon from his last bite, it clatters loudly against the silence. He clears his throat.

“Last time there was a test. It served me well. This time, it will be both something similar and something different. Three questions, three tasks.”

“Now, Shelly…” his mother begins, only to be interrupted unexpectedly by a fierce glare from Penny. Raj is looking cautiously hopeful while Howard and Leonard are exchanging a tense glance.

“Buddy…” Leonard begins with a small awkward chuckle.

“If you wish me to return, these are my conditions. I fear otherwise I’ll have no choice but to remain here and inform Gablehauser as to the real reasons why.” The words leave his mouth sharply as he stands from the table, hands held tense at his side. “I shall meet you in the living room in thirty minutes.”

 

***

“What the frak did you say to him last night?” Howard hisses to Penny as soon as Sheldon leaves the room.

“I hardly said two words!” She exclaims indignantly. “He’s the one that plopped down at the bar next to me!”

“The bar?” Leonard asks in confusion as Raj squeaks in surprise.

“The Blue Velvet?” Mary asks as she clears the table. Penny nods.

“Well, ya’ll are probably in for an interesting day then. Now, no swearing and no sexing. I’ve got work and prayer circle so I won’t be back for a few hours.”

The four of them nod their goodbyes as they shuffle off to prepare themselves for the day and for facing Sheldon.

 

***

Twenty-nine minutes later, Sheldon clears his throat.

“Two questions and one task for this morning. You each have two note cards with questions on them. They may or may not be the same as the others, but you are to look at only the ones in front of you and answer them truthfully and accordingly. Then, we’ll meet in the garage.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: I take liberties with the idea of a make-shift shooting range, and possibly the gun laws in Texas. Bear with me and forgive me if it is completely far-fetched. :)

Chapter 6

 

 

Sheldon watches Penny as she stares at the two notecards for a minute before she takes a deep breath and picks up the pen. He lets out a breath of his own he hadn’t realized he was holding and his eyebrow twitches when he does.

He’s not sure why he decided that the job his mother had given him would be a suitable experiment on the four others, but for some reason it struck him as only right. Cleaning his old school work, experiments, and notes from the boxes in the garage was everything his childhood had included that led him to physics, which led him to Caltech and subsequently to the Arctic. Sorting what should be kept and re-boxed for him versus what could be trashed without risk to the scientific community would be a fine line.

 

***

Cleaning out the old boxes wasn’t exactly the fun that Penny had been anticipating for today, not that she had been expecting to have much fun when she’d decided to get on that plane and head to Texas. She also thought she’d be home by now, but nothing was working out quite like they thought it would when they got here. The five of them of them are spread out through the garage, put to work under the premise of Sheldon’s friendship test, or possibly more an authentication this time round. Penny is lingering between Leonard and Sheldon, half-heartedly digging through a box of Sheldon’s childhood schoolwork. The entire box is overwhelming and she has a feeling it should not be her sorting through this, deeming which items should be kept and which shouldn’t. But for some reason Sheldon wants to see them do this, to see them try. Or fail, she isn’t quite sure on that piece exactly. She wonders if Sheldon will tell her which.

“Hey, Sheldon…” her voice dies in her throat as she looks up.

Holy crap on a cracker, she thinks. Sheldon Cooper, PhD. Holding a gun. And, by the looks of it, he knows how to use it. There is an odd look on his face—not quite happy, but as if he is lost in memories. He finishes assembling it and pulls it up against his shoulder, barrel pointing clear of any of them, though close enough to the guys that they all noticeably step back and swallow.

Penny isn't sure if it's some Nebraska remnants inside of her or what but the sight of him standing there shakes something inside of her. Her vision realigns and she mentally shakes herself.

“Used to be able to shoot close enough to a raccoon that it would crap itself. ‘Just a teaser shot’ my father always used to say, and then the second shot was the kill shot.”

Penny smiles in spite of herself and steps slightly closer to Sheldon. Peers inside the box looking for another rifle. “Probably can’t shoot in this back yard though, can we? Any ranges nearby?”

Sheldon eyes her, comprehension dawning in his features. “Penny, Penny, Penny. This is Texas; people take their guns to church. A suburban back yard is nothing. The good collection’s in the house though, this one hasn’t been kept up.” There is an odd gleam in his eye.

“Bazinga?” Howard’s timid voice pops up, all full of hope and fear. Instead of answering, Sheldon simply points the barrel of the rifle towards what is obviously, now that she looks at it, a make-shift target in the corner of the garage.

“George, Jr’s doing, no doubt,” Sheldon says.

Penny tugs him and the gun towards it. Sheldon digs around on a shelf and finds ammunition and another stashed rifle that needs slight assembly. He nods Penny in direction at the pieces and she grabs at them eagerly.

Within minutes she and Sheldon are standing, shoulder to shoulder, facing the target. A wild grin overtakes her face and she takes the first shot, recoils slightly, out of practice. It isn’t a bullseye, but it’s in the target.

It reminds her of high school. The number of dates she had at a shooting range is really rather absurd, something no one in California as ever understood. She may not be a genius may not even have a degree let alone 3 but she can fix a tractor, smile at anything, and god damn shoot a gun like she was born to do so.

Something inside her relaxes the moment she pulls the trigger, something she’d forgotten about and tried to bury in sunshine and alcohol. Omaha is part of her, even the parts she doesn’t like. She earns an approving half smile from Sheldon; she’d just nicked the outside of the center circle. It’s a hand-drawn target, not quite even, and severely beat up from years of use. They switch and Sheldon fires off three quick shots, two hitting outside main circle, one dead center. He smirks at Penny as if he’s made some point that she wasn’t aware of. But she smirks back as she lines up for another turn.

 

***

 

Six bullets each is all that was left in the box he’d found, and all twelve hit the target, stretched taut with string and a single safety pin between the two garage beams. He hadn’t shot a gun in close to twenty years, probably more. It brought back combined memories of calm nature superimposed with yelling and the overwhelming smell of bourbon that had never seemed to leave his father, even in death. Standing there now, sharing it with Penny, was something he couldn’t quantify. She didn’t fit into his equation of it, it didn’t fit into his equation of her.

She was his cosmological constant and she was unsolvable.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this has been so long. Life has been busy and distracting. I hope to have more up soon. Read and (hopefully) enjoy!

Chapter 7

 

It takes them another hour and a half to clean the garage, and Penny isn’t quite sure it even qualifies as that, and then there is pizza ordered for a late lunch. Sheldon has his preferences, even down here, where he hasn’t spent more than a handful of days in years, and the rest of them get only a partial say in what is ordered, and none at all for the location.

She feels sweaty and gross after being in the garage, but there isn’t time for showers Sheldon surprisingly states. He calmly washes his hands while counting to thirty and that is apparently enough cleaning even after all the dust and possible germs they’d encountered. The air in Texas is different than in California, and even than back home in Nebraska, and Penny thinks it has a different effect on Sheldon as well. She wants to believe it is that, and not that he’s finally snapped. The boys have joked about it before, about Sheldon finally losing it, and she knows it was just that, joking…but she also worries that some of it is closer to a reality than she’d like—mad scientist jokes hit a little too close to home with Sheldon. And that this even could have been that final notch is more than apparent to her.

As they eat the air between them is still tense, conversation still stilted, but it is better than it has been. The boys aren’t physical, the most exercise they get is whatever is on the Wii that week, but they’d worked up an appetite cleaning and a shared meal is a ritual they’re all used to, are all comfortable with. And they settle into it. Old habits.

It’s a local place Sheldon had ordered from, literally just called Galveston Pizza, but the pizza is better than any she’s had in years. It is warm and filling and just greasy enough to be perfect. It’s happier times—Age of Conan, laundry nights, Halo, and apartment 4A in Pasadena. It’s high school cheerleading and bonfires, sleep overs and friendships.

After cleaning up, throwing away boxes, loading the dishes, washing her hands, Penny cocks her hand in the shape of a gun at Sheldon and clicks her tongue.

“Ready?” She asks with a smile. The rodeo in a way was like bullfighting–and she would always take the bull by the horns. No hiding in the corners for this wannabe actor.

A small smile quirks his mouth upwards at the same time that his right eye twitches. But he nods and motions them back to the living room.

“The next task panders to you Homo Sapiens that are tied to your physical bodies more so than your intellectual minds. It also, coincidentally, pays homage to a favored character with which I feel an undeniable kinship.

“On this note card,” Sheldon continues as he hands them each yet another note card, this one blank and pristine, “you must write three places or items. A scavenger hunt of sorts. These will be the three things or spots you find that think I most sought out as a child here.”

He takes a moment to stop and state at each of them in turn, as if confirming that they’d each understood him. Then he abruptly clapped his hands, startling everyone except Penny.

“You have 30 minutes.”

***

Sheldon watches Penny as she takes the note card and stands. He is tempted to follow her to see where her mind takes her, but he holds back. The other note cards are still lined up on his desk, face down. He generally has little patience for waiting, but this reminds him of one of his experiments and those he can always wait for. He watches them all file past before he even deigns to take a step; not willing to risk any clues. He watches Howard dart out the front door and Raj hasten after him while Penny slips out the back door and Leonard lurks near her before banging loudly through the side door.

He watches from the concrete slab in the backyard that his mother calls a patio. It is bare and stark. He watches as Penny trails her fingers along the side of the garage as she makes her way towards the fence along the back of the property. A small smile, the first real one he remembers in a while, ghosts his lips as he watches her circle the tree, slowing down on the back side. He turns abruptly, not willing to watch further in fear of giving anything away, and meets the penetrating stare of Leonard, standing at the corner of the house, a mere ten feet away. There is a look in his eyes that Sheldon can’t quite place, it is harder even then the ones he’d given in the arctic. Sheldon is tired of it all now though, weary and unwilling to play at the game any longer. He simply turns away from Leonard and walks slowly back into the house.

His eyes are on his watch, timing them, as he debates what his third and final question will be. He won’t admit to himself that he isn’t quite sure what this will accomplish, what it will show. It is possibly more for him than for the others, an attempt to see if there is even a reason to return. He misses science, but not his work, and he misses his couch and his life, but not Leonard. And he knows that all means something, but can’t quite reconcile what.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 

Penny knows it, feels it, the moment her hand runs over the small indented bark. She’d circled the tree once before she stopped slowly on the far side. The house is obscured from here, practically hidden, and she can suddenly imagine a small boy curled up here, book in hand, hiding himself away. All arms and legs and bright blue eyes taking everything in. Her hand brushes and she feels the slight indents in the bark, small worn areas, years old, though not to the tree. She writes on her note card hastily, all loops and swirls, before noting the branches overhead. Grabbing onto the lowest, she hoists herself up and climbs. The branches are leafy and full, but she can make out the yard and the few houses around. There’s a lot to be seen from up here.

The questions earlier, she isn’t sure if she got them. She knows Sheldon, she gets him in a way she sometimes thinks the guys don’t, but she can’t match the intelligence, isn’t always on the same playing field as they are. Oh, she’ll hold her own, go down fighting–there isn’t any other option. But she knows what counts with Sheldon; honest enough with herself right now to admit she doesn’t have it. Taking in the view from here though, she thinks she can do well on this one though–knows she’s got at least one in the bag. It’s the human side of Sheldon, he’d as much as admitted that to them, and she can beat anyone in that arena.

It’s easier to simply jump then to try to wriggle back through the branches, so she does just that, landing just in front of Raj and earning a strangled ‘eep’ from him as she smiles broadly. He eyes the branches she appeared from between before scurrying away. Penny keeps the smile on her face and heads off on her own.

 

Twenty-five minutes later, Penny slides onto the couch, the last one there. Her abrupt and rather hasty arrival earns her a glare from both Sheldon, standing as if ready to lecture, and Howard, squeezed somewhat perilously on the cushion next to her. Sheldon clears his throat for the second time and twitches his hand slightly—it has been outstretched towards Penny since she rushed in.

“Oh, here you go, Sheldon,” she says as she reaches into her back pocket and pulls the now slightly more than wrinkled note card from it and places it gingerly in his palm, straightening it slightly with a push of her hand. He eyes it as if afraid to touch it and Penny just widens her grin, settling back against the couch.

“Here is your note card for the final question,” Sheldon begins in his monotone voice, handing out a fresh note card to each of them. “My mother will announce the final task after dinner.”

***

It is later, after the hunt and the cleaning are done, after all the questions have been answered and dinner has been had, and Sheldon is sitting in his room. He’d started at his desk, note cards laid out evenly before him, but he’s moved now to his bed. There is a part of him that is scared, that doesn’t want to look at them for fear of what he’ll find; or maybe, of what he won’t find. He already knows Penny has at least one right answer, wouldn’t be surprised if the guys had been able to deduce where he’d always done his more questionable experiments. But trepidation still haunts him, still slows his hand as he smooths the comforter next to the cards. There aren’t any wrinkles, but he can imagine them.

He goes chronological because it is logical. And there is nothing more soothing most days. The first two questions, painstakingly written onto notecards he’d then handed out. Despite his words, he’d given them all the same two questions, wanting to see the comparison. The first question didn’t really have any wrong answers per se—almost anything falling under the hard sciences would qualify, assuming it was at least a real concept.

 

What are two of my favorite scientific subjects?

What are the names of two family pets I was forced to endure during my childhood?

 

Leonard’s answers are written messily, scrawled quickly and without thought. Sheldon knows it is partly because Leonard does know him so well—but isn’t willing to pin it all on that.

         Particle Cosmology and String theory

         Lucky and Snowball

Raj’s are in his careful, practiced hand. There are obvious spaces between letters and areas the pen ink sank into the paper—he’d hesitated more than once.

_Supersymmetr **y** and Gamma  Ray **s**_

_Lucky and **S** nowman_

Howard’s answers are quick and succinct—leaving Sheldon to believe he jotted them down in a hurry at the last second. Whether he was distracted by thinking about them or something else, he isn’t quite sure.

_M-Theory and String Theory_

_Luck and Snowy_

Penny’s is not surprising. Her loopy handwriting covers almost every open space and is full of flourish—much like its writer.

_Higgs Boson and Schrodinger_

_Lucky (or not!) and Snowball_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the wait wasn't too long on this one. I tried to put the answers in different fonts but it didn't transfer to AO3 very well.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter up; we're nearing the end. Thanks again for reading and reviewing--it always makes my day when I see the kudos and reviews.

Chapter 9

 

Sheldon already had his thoughts from the first task; mental tidbits he’d collected as they’d worked. Cleaning the garage of his old papers, work, and experiments was a chance to observe, a chance to see how the others treated his scientific past. And some of his not so scientific past, Sheldon thought with a small smile as the image of Penny holding a gun comes back to his mind. There is only the last task left now–one that is mostly for his moral support; a test of who can provide that. Tomorrow is the monthly potluck at his mother’s church that she has insisted he attends as one of his requirements for staying here. These potlucks had been his bane as a child—yet another chance for him to stand out in the wrong way. He’d hated them—often took to hiding in the basement or the bathroom when he could. He knew his mother was doing it to nettle him—trying to drive him to retaliate and come out of his shell a bit. But he didn’t have the heart to push back, not when he’d come crawling back to her like this. She’d perfected a glare on him and his siblings that could always silence him, despite the often illogical, or even completely missing, reasoning from her.

Thinking back to the garage—the slight easing of tension that had happened in the enclosed atmosphere—he is reminded more starkly of the friendships that are hanging now in peril. Leonard and he have been through a lot—they’ve each put up with things from the other that may have made lesser people run away. But Sheldon isn’t quite as oblivious as Leonard and Howard seem to think—he often knows when they’re teasing him or outright insulting him. There is a part of him, still, though that doesn’t want to lose even that small amount of camaraderie that he’s found amongst the trio. The other part of him, the larger, scientific part, never wants to let this outrage go. Wants to run to Gablehauser and scream their crimes at the top of his lungs and prove his continued perfection and intelligence. Oh, he knows he’ll never do that, despite the odd fantasy or two that has made its way into his daydreams.

If anything, the time spent watching in the garage reminded him of how different they all were. And, sure, he’s lamented not growing up with someone like Beverly Hofstadter as a mother, but he knows that his odd childhood and his mother are a large part of who he is and how he got where he is. And he loves his mother, sharply and illogically, in spite of their differences.

 

He fingers all the notecards on the bed again; more thoughts zooming through his mind. That Penny and Leonard were the only two to get his pets’ names correct doesn’t surprise him. Nor does it surprise him that Penny chose the two scientific topics she had—they’d probably had more conversations on those two alone than any others and he would have been impressed had she gotten any other terminology correct.

 

He picks up the last line of cards slowly. The answers vary on the scavenger hunt a little more than he’d thought they might—there aren’t all that many areas to choose from so he’d anticipated a lot of overlap. Mostly he'd anticipated a lot of generic answers, but he's surprised.

 

Leonard’s answers made it looked like he’d at least tried. His handwriting is just as messy as last time, but there seems to be a bit more care to it. The feelings and relationship he has with Leonard are convoluted on the best of days, and he can only hope Leonard was making an attempt for that reason.

  1. Garage—back corner counter shelf
  2. East side of the house, behind the bush
  3. Bedroom



 

Raj’s answers are like last time—careful. He’s always been like that with Sheldon, careful, yet always something hiding behind his back.

  1. Bedroom
  2. Garage for your experiments
  3. Kitchen table



 

Howard’s were perfunctory and he wondered if he’d even put any thought into them. It certainly explains why he was the first one done by a long shot.

  1. Bedroom
  2. Garage
  3. Kitchen



 

Sheldon hesitates at reading Penny’s, even as he chides himself. He may not be sociable, but he’s intelligent enough to name the emotions that have been twinging every time he thinks of her since she arrived down here—possibly before. He knows her answers matter the most.

  1. Tree in the backyard—opposite side where you weren’t visible from the house
  2. Garage—both the shooting range and that counter in the back with all the suspicious stains on it
  3. Under your bed



 

It’s the number three that stops him, that makes his breath shudder as he exhales. It’s number three that finally drives him out of his room.

***

Sheldon hasn’t left his room all day—no one has seen him since right after dinner the evening before. Penny had knocked on his door off and on with no answer and finally resorted to leaving his breakfast and lunch outside the door. He’d ignored both plates and she grew antsier as the day progressed. The three calls she’d ignored in the last two days from her boss at the Cheesecake Factory were weighing heavily on her mind and she had twice contemplated simply bringing out her old rodeo skills and making Sheldon leave his room. She’d managed to talk herself out of it each time, but his decision needed to come quickly if she was going to keep her job.

There still isn’t much to do in the house—the t.v. has been on all day, showing crappy soaps that she would normally relish, but can’t seem to keep her attention on today. The boys are somewhat to blame—dumb meatheads don’t hold the same appeal to her anymore, no matter that they seem to be twins to the Greek gods. Watching someone else’s life drama only seems to highlight her own right now anyway. 

She takes a walk around the neighborhood after lunch; ignoring yet another call from her boss. The tension in her skin is driving her crazy. Something is happening, she can feel it, and she contemplates calling her mom, but panics at the last minute and doesn’t. She knows Sheldon saw her at the tree and there was something—in his posture, in his eyes; she’s not sure she can name it—that won’t leave her mind.

 

They finally assemble a few minutes before they’re expected to leave for the potluck. Glad to be getting out of the house, they’re all full of restless energy. Sheldon emerges, comes down the stairs and stands in front of them. He clears his throat, pulls out the note cards. He looks around and stops, uncharacteristically nervous it seems, tics in full bloom.

“Penny.”

She straightens herself up, half preening, half defending—prepared to fail, hoping for more. “Yes?”

Sheldon holds up the note cards and says her name again, slight hilt to it.

“I got them right?” She asks excitedly, standing up. Any thoughts of violence evaporated almost instantaneously.

He shakes his head roughly, oddly, eyes darting around. Moving to take a step towards him, she reaches out, thinking to take the cards from him.  The tension in his body increases though, and he flinches back almost comically, and his eyes are wide, locked now on her. She can’t seem to look away.

“No. The answer isn’t right. It’s you!” Sheldon half growls and half yells, cards falling to the ground as he punctuates his exclamation with a wild gesture.

“What do you mean? What did I do?” She asks, head cocked towards him. But he has already turned and ran out the door. The guys all stare at her as they hear the door of his mother’s car slam shut.

“What the frak?” Howard asks.

She shakes her head roughly, tears threatening the edges. Something significant just happened, that she can tell, but she doesn’t know quite what it is; doesn’t think Sheldon knows either. It teases the edge of her mind though; her heart as well.

Holding her head up, she grabs her sweater and swipes at her eyes before marching out the front door.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't even begin to apologize for the delay in this chapter. Full time work, full time school, and full time kids means very little time for me. Thank you to everyone who has read and stuck with it--enjoy this final chapter of The Texas Redesign.

Chapter 10

 

The potluck starts out full of tension—the five of them nearly silent between them; Sheldon refusing to look at any of them, Howard and Leonard unable to stop sneaking glances between her and Sheldon, and Penny confused and caught halfway between anxious and excited. They’d shuffled in single file and silent, all trailing behind Sheldon seemingly more out of habit than need. They were gathered in a traditional church hall, tucked away in the basement of the aging building, tables lined with people and food in almost equal measure.

Penny watched as Sheldon practically marched his way through the room, brief nods at random people that are so close to respectful that they all stare, caught even more off guard. He was following a straight path towards his mother, who was standing next to a man that could only be the pastor.

“Sheldon?” Penny whispered furtively, touching his arm gently; an aborted move to rein him in. His movements don’t even falter.

“Oh, Shelly Bean, come say hello to Pastor Jim,” Mary interrupted before any of them could say another word.

Penny, in fear of every possible situation flowing through her mind, hopped up next to Sheldon and looped her arm through his. But there is just a respectful nod and a quick, firm handshake. Penny is quick to introduce herself, provide a break in the conversation. All eyes are on her as she looped her arm through Sheldon’s, tying him to her, securing him. She’d ignored them as she smiled and shook Pastor Jim’s hand. Sheldon was tense beneath her arm, coiled and ready to pull back, but he never moved.

And Penny finally begins to understand.

 

 

Sheldon had spent a large part of his life alone; he was used to it, used to the introversion that occurred because of it. And it had been the same since he’d come back here, quiet moments spent reflecting on every moment and decision that had brought him here. He’d reflected a lot on the last few years, his time spent at CalTech and at the apartment on Los Roblos. His decision to have a roommate that ultimately brought Leonard and then Howard and Rajesh into his daily life. And that had then brought Penny into it as well. He’s wondered if he and Penny would have ever even spoken had it not been for Leonard. And that thought had startled and scared him more than he’d like to admit. Imagining his life without Penny, most significantly as he read through all the answers she’d provided to his test, was something he didn’t want to consider anymore.

All of these thoughts are rewinding, running through his head yet again on the drive from his mother’s house to the church. He’s tense and unsure after his odd interaction with Penny. He knows the others are all sneaking glances at him, can practically feel their questions in the tension in the air. He can’t process the answer though, it’s like an unfinished experiment, just out of his grasp.

These thoughts are all stewing in him as he marches in, shakes hands, nods his head. And they come to a culmination as Penny latches onto him. The memories of her, so entwined with his day to day life now, the fact that she was the only one to get under his bed correct as a favorite place—the only one who could probably imagine that he hid under there often, trying to block out the noise of his parent’s fighting, the smell of his father’s liquor, the taunts of the neighbor kids. She latches onto him, and he doesn’t pull away.

It all finally clicks at that moment, makes sense; and the thoughts begin to form.

 

 

They stay at the potluck for two hours. Two hours without Sheldon insulting a single person in the room, even the four of them. The boys are waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Penny, knowledge having freed her tension, simply enjoys herself—eats the food and flashes her smile at everyone, charming them left and right. Some indiscernible symbol passes between them all at the two hour mark, and they meet back in the center of the room. Curt nods are handed out as they prepare to leave, and the smile on Mary’s face is unrivaled.  Even Sheldon’s lips quirk up slightly.

The car ride home is silent, but not tense, and they all part ways as soon as they’re back in the house. Penny is ready to relax, settle down for the night, when her phone rings. The Cheesecake Factory number taunts her and a sigh escapes, unbidden. She knows it is time for decisions—and not just Sheldon’s.

 

 

It is Penny, finally, that forces the decision from him. She knocks on his door and asks him, straight up, if he’s made a decision. It is only fair, after all, it is Penny that is the reason for his decision. So he gathers the five of them together in the living room. His bags are packed, ready to go, shut behind his bedroom door.

“I’ve sent an email to Gablehauser,” he states, watching the reactions with an inward smile. He can see three protests starting to form.

“I informed him that I’ll be back in the office next week; that I intend to continue my research but never again will I lead a team involving personal relations due to increased tensions and subsequent bad academic integrity decisions by all, and that he can accept my return or I’ll be tendering my resignation and accepting the offer I have from Heidelberg, who will publicly announce their coup in stealing me away.”

He continues in a rush, not wanting to forget his preplanned words. “The five of us are booked on the 8am flight out of Houston tomorrow and I’d like five minutes with each of you in the kitchen. Separately. Howard, you first.”

 

He doesn’t have much to say to Howard; his will be the easiest. Howard tries to ruin it of course, by opening his mouth the second they walk through the swinging kitchen door.

“Sheldon, buddy, we…”

Sheldon cuts him off abruptly, not wanting to waste his time with the rest. “We’ve never had the best of relationships Hoard, we’d both openly admit to that. I’d like us to go back to that basic prototype, casual acquaintances who work together. Will you have any issue with that?”

Howard looks at him for a moment, smarmy smile still frozen in place. “Does this mean I didn’t pass?”

Sheldon shakes his head. “No one passed, Howard. Send in Rajesh once you’re out there.”

 

There is less than a 30 second break before Rajesh comes stumbling in, face oddly reminiscent of a hopeful puppy pressed against a window.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t say it before, but…” Sheldon cuts Raj off for the same reason he’d cut off Howard.

“Your actions really didn’t surprise me, Raj. You’re a follower by nature and anything besides blindly following Howard and Leonard would have shocked me. The apology is appreciated, but not necessary. I hope that, upon returning to CalTech, we can resume our professional relationship and that this will not cause undue strain.”

“Are we still friends?”

“The friendship paradigm remains to be seen, Rajesh. I am hopeful that we can all learn and move on from this, myself included. I think there’s some growing up we all must do.” Sheldon responds to a gob smacked Raj.

“Please send Leonard in.”

 

His speech to Leonard had taken the longest to write and perfect. Leonard was his first real friend and that doesn’t swipe under the rug as easily as Sheldon had thought it might.

Leonard walks in slowly, eyes tracking Sheldon. Sheldon gives him points, he doesn’t try to speak.

“Academic integrity is something that I do not take lightly. I understand you have your insecurity issues and problems with jealousy and believed unfairness. We were friends, and that should have gone over that. But in the end, you betrayed something far deeper than our friendship. We’ve had some good times, Leonard, and I don’t want to negate those. But I’m moving on, and I think you should as well.”

He holds out his hand for a handshake, “We can start over if you’d like,” Sheldon says, “but understand this, everything changes today, and Penny will never be yours.”

He waits for half a beat, and when no response or movement is forthcoming, he turns on his heel and marches to the front room. “Penny,” he states and heads up the stairs, indicating she should follow him.

 

Once they are both in his bedroom, he closes the door.

Penny lingers by his bookcase and Sheldon hesitates; he’s made up his mind, but he’s still nervous, and he hates that.

“There’s never been anything more important than science in my life. But you make me want there to be. You’re the only one who truly cared enough to come down here and try to sort this out, the only one who managed to surprise me with their answers to my questions. You’ve made me almost immune to flinching when you touch me. That’s when I noticed it.”

“Sheldon, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“That I may have boy-girl feelings for you?” Sheldon asks with only somewhat feigned innocence and nonchalance.

“If I kiss you are you going to run?” Penny asks him with one of her trademark smiles as she leans in towards him.

Sheldon gulps. He still isn’t completely sure about this.

“I can’t promise you’ll be happy with me all of the time,” he says, voice low and serious. She smiles at him, face hovering over hers.

“I know. Wouldn’t want it that way,” she replies with a teasing smile. “I like our fights.”

A small smile twinges at the edge of his lips, before morphing into a slight frown. “I may ignore you for my work.”

“And I may prance around in front of you singing Spice Girls when that happens.” She has a retaliation for everything, and he knows it; sighs loudly as he gives up the battle.

“I still feel like this is the worse decision I’ve ever made.” He says as he leans in the rest of the way.

Penny, always wanting the last word, breathes out right before she pounces on him, “Oh, sweetie, all the best ones are.”


End file.
